


seven to disaster

by fairyslush



Category: Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Blind Date, Friends to Lovers, M/M, a lot of dense daniel involved, also loser daniel, onghwang are a thing, ongniel are bffs, what even are tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-12
Updated: 2017-09-12
Packaged: 2018-12-23 08:42:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 14,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11986272
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairyslush/pseuds/fairyslush
Summary: kang daniel decides to be the substitute date for his best friend yoon jisung when his blind date doesn't arrive. alternatively, kang daniel realizes that it takes seven hours for a platonic date to go the absolute opposite way.





	seven to disaster

**Author's Note:**

> so the prompt was given by my ~~number one fan~~ friend steph, and it involves daniel setting jisung up on a date like a good best friend but ending up being the date himself. it took me a while to conceptualize this, so i really would like to thank my friends kimmy, mish, takao, and steph for helping me ease my worries because i forgot how to write fics. i would also like to give a huge shout out to the WAT who give me enough motivation just by existing as their awesome selves. 
> 
> lastly, a special thank you for niz, my wonderful beta, who painstakingly helped me with editing this gargantuan work.
> 
> anygays, thank you for advance, and sorry in advance. hope this would fit your expectations!

it's a small cafe in the middle of the bustling gangnam area, a quaint repose that seems so stark against the posh, corporate background that the metropolis offers. the walls are painted with the lightest of pinks, white, lace-trim borders stencilled on the top-most corners of each division. the air around the venue drips with the sweet scent of sugar and vanilla, mixed with the slightest hints of lavender and rose coming from the freshly cut bouquets that are scattered around the room.

behind one of the horizontal topiaries hides a kang daniel, his eyes peeking through the little spaces that the greenery allows. he thinks he has done a good job with the disguise he has donned for the day—the dark sunglasses are a homage to clark kent's very own methodologies, and he believes he has given it justice.  
  
a waitress clad in a frilly dress wistfully ignores his not-so-suspicious antics, choosing instead to heed the call of duty and refill his glass of cold water for the nth time that morning  
  
a yoon jisung sits two tables across from his selected hiding space, and daniel watches as a pout forms on the man's cherry-red lips as he reads off a text message. daniel knows all-too-well what the text contains—he _has,_ after all, received the exact same message of apology (a carbon copy, screams the  _cc: kang daniel_  at the bottom of the text) from the  _noona_  he has contracted for this special day—and there's just this urge in his veins to simply jump in and present himself as a lovelier alternative.  
  
but _no_. he can't just jump in. call it the influence of his superman sunnies, but daniel thinks he could at least be a few minutes of fashionably late before he goes on to fulfill his ingenious masterplan (read: he _cannot_ be accused of stalking).  
  
"are you _really_ going to do this?"  
  
an ong seongwoo asks from the chair across his own, and daniel tries his hardest not to burst into a series of little chuckles at the ridiculous disguise the other wore. if daniel was channeling the man of steel himself, the elder seemed to have lost the superhero memo and decided to go full gag man with the plastic moustache that hangs from the thick, lensless frames that sit on his aristocratic nose.  
  
"you're a hundred percent sure this will work?" seongwoo continues, ever-serious, a brow quirked in disbelief.  
  
"will _what_ work?" daniel parries with a scrunch of his nose, his brows furrowing in confusion at whatever the elder is trying to imply. "i just think he looks too _cute_ to be stood up, hyung, aside from the fact that i am half-responsible for this entire thing."  
  
it has been a week since daniel, out of the goodness of his heart and his devotion to being a most wonderful best friend, decided to set a blind date for his jisung-hyung, all in the name of cheering him up after a hectic week of theatre call backs. unfortunately, the noona who was supposed to take his beloved hyung out on the best date of his life has been struck by an unforeseen emergency and was forced to cancel at the very last minute. hence, the present situation: a pouting jisung waiting for a date that will never come, a bored seongwoo who has been dragged to speed through seoul city traffic only to play undercover spy behind a sizeable flower pot, and an enthusiastic daniel who is waiting for the right moment to make his grand re-entrance and ask the pouting jisung out on a date.  
  
" _whatever_ ," seongwoo's quip halts daniel's little narrative, the elder raking his fingers through his locks as an expression of his exasperation. "do what you want. i'm leaving. i have a date with minhyun."  
  
daniel quirks a brow at the sudden proclamation, mostly at the obvious fact that the man has made no effort to remove the gag glasses from his face as he stands up, attracting a couple of stares from the cafe's usual patrons.  
  
"you're wearing _that_?" he asks, but seongwoo merely hums in reply to his inquisition.  
  
"i don't see why not," the elder punctuates his motion with a shrug, and uses a most theatrical accent to emphasize his next statement. "perhaps he'll be more _amicable_ to accepting my offer if my beauty didn't overshadow his."  
  
"pfft," daniel finds it futile to stifle a chuckle at that, and it works wonders in making the other look incredibly offended. "you mean you're just about to ask minhyun-hyung out?"  
  
"screw technicalities," seongwoo motions with a dismissive wave of his hand, and daniel snorts at the defensive act as the man carefully inches away to prepare for a smooth escape. "you can find your way home without the car, right?"  
  
"yeah," daniel nods in affirmation, gesturing for the elder to go with a swish of his hand. "good luck."  
  
seongwoo coolly dismisses his well wishes with a backhanded salute. " _please_. you need it more than i do."

 

* * *

 

**t - seven hours**

"i was wondering when you'd come out of that bush."  
  
daniel stops halfway in his tracks, a few steps in front of jisung's table, his wave frozen in mid-air as the looming sense of embarassment begins to crawl through his central nervous system. in the little amount of time he has on hand to process what is happening, he wonders where on earth he went wrong with his planning, thoroughly refusing to believe that the things at fault were:

 _one_ : his questionable choice of disguises; not everybody can be a clark kent, and heavily tinted sunglasses do nothing in hiding his chubby cheeks or copper hair from immediate view;  
  
_two_ **:**  his not-so-subtle choice of hiding places, which was a mere two tables away from the target, blocked only by a sizeable horizontal topiary which barely even hid his tall frame from view or,  
  
_three_ : his super-secret-super-spy voice, which was really just a couple of volume bars away from regular talking, and the cafe wasn't big enough or crowded enough to drown out the unmistakable busan-boy accent that came with his entire package.

the waitress who had diligently refilled his glass of water from ten minutes ago stifles a laugh as she watches his sorry state, and the sudden noise was enough to send him back to reality to finally decide in putting the blame of being discovered on ong seongwoo.  
  
"where's ong?" jisung casually asks, and daniel takes it as enough confirmation that it was indeed the over-the-top man who is at  full-fault at this rather awkward situation. "is he practicing for a _skit_ or something? what's with the groucho glasses?"  
  
"i dunno about that." daniel thanks his lucky stars that he didn't stutter in his delivery, his motor skills finally regaining their function as he puts his hand down from the unfinished greeting. "he said he was going to ask minhyun-hyung out, or something."  
  
"he hasn't given up on _that,_ huh?" a rhetorical question, and jisung juts out his bottom lip, nodding to affirm his own assumptions before he turns his gaze to the other. "so—what brings you here? i don't think you'd stalk me without good reason."  
  
" _hyung_ ," daniel whines at the elder's choice of words, his pout deepening once he hears the other giggle at his little show. "i received noona's message too, you know. and i think—"  
  
daniel pauses to think his words through—a _first!_ —and he backpedals in his thoughts to try and locate a justification for his recent actions.  
  
he's a good _friend._ he has known jisung for god knows how many years (daniel doesn't like math), and he knows that the elder is a bit lonely with his busy life as a budding theatre lead. the week before has been nothing but a bunch of callbacks from musicals and plays that will air in the next quarter, and he has decided it would be good to have jisung let it loose before drowning in a never-ending cycle of script readings, blocking practice, and costume fittings.  
  
a date would've been the perfect stress-relief. but the date has cancelled at the very last minute, and daniel feels that it wouldn't be right to let his dear hyung be stood up after all the preparation he has done for the special day. after all, daniel is a good friend. daniel is a good friend who finds solutions at an almost instant (read: _impulsive_ ), and his solution is to be the date himself.  
  
his logic is _flawless._ batman would be proud of him.

"—i think hyung looks too _cute_ today to be stood up."  
  
he says it in typical daniel fashion, his busan accent easily showing through the faux seoul-city syllables he used to add a semblance of smoothness to his invitation. he feels his face burn at the rather cheeky quip, but he blames it on the residual summer heat that is seeping in from the cafe's floor-to-ceiling windows.  
  
" _what_?" jisung exclaims, choking out the sole syllable with a chuckle that practically tripped out of his system. daniel blinks as the elder stands to put a hand against his forehead to check for signs of post-spring fever. again, he curses out the summer sun for the redness that taints his cheeks.  
  
"you've been hanging out with ong too much, niel." fact, but daniel is more offended at his attempt being compared to seongwoo's more comical tirades. he likes to think his pick-up lines had more class, after all.  
  
"hyung," daniel whines, yet again, pulling out the chair across from the elder, his cheeks puffing out as he takes his seat. "i'm serious. your date stood you up, so i'm here as the lovely replacement." he makes sure to emphasize lovely, both his palms spread underneath his chin to mimic a flower. jisung gets a laugh out of it, at least. daniel thinks he's at peace with the reaction.  
  
"lovely replacement, huh?" jisung parrots, keeping a couple of chuckles from tumbling out of his system with a small cough. "so, you're asking me out on a _date_?"  
  
"mhm," daniel nods, quite unsure why his heart did a little flip at how casually the elder states his true intentions. "hyung prepared a lot for today—i just thought it would be a pity if it all goes to waste, you know?"  
  
jisung snorts, shaking his head at the other's nerves, and daniel feels a chill run down the back of his neck as the elder's expression contorts into something more thoughtful.  
  
"i don't _know_ ," there is a teasing lilt in the other's tone, and daniel finds himself holding on to that string of hope. jisung prolongs his suffering by looking ever-discerning, a finger tapping against his chin as he pretends to ponder on the proposal. "wouldn't it just be us two hanging out, like always?"  
  
"well, _yeah_ , but..." daniel stutters on his excuses, and he blurts out the first thing that comes to mind. "we can call it a date. i can _flirt_ with you, if you want."  
  
jisung chokes on the rather bold offer, and daniel realizes that maybe, he shouldn't have said anything of the sort a few beats too late. the younger scrambles around his conscious to find a better excuse, but all it did was have him realize that he didn't really mind exchanging mindless flirtations with his elder. also, if push comes to shove, he wouldn't protest (much) to kissing his long-time friend goodnight for the sake of a romantic rendezvous.  
  
"we can do other stuff too," his delivery comes out as a little too hurried, but he decides to worry about it maybe three days later, in a one a.m. existential crisis. "my plan was really only up to here."  
  
"as usual," jisung chuckles at his little confession, and daniel hears fondness in the other's tone. "are you paying, at least?"  
  
"well, i—" the panic in his face sends jisung doubling over in laughter. "i don't mi—"  
  
"i was kidding, niel."  
  
 "hyung—" daniel pouts, looking like the petulant child that he truly is underneath that towering height. "just go out with me. i promise i'll make it worth your time."  
  
"mhm," jisung hums in thoughtful pretense, mostly to tease. he reaches forth to pinch the younger's cheek as he whines, a usual in their many years of friendship. daniel doesn't know why the familiar act has to bother him _now._ "fine. i'll go on a date with my _cute_ daniel."

 

* * *

 

**t - six hours**

  
the bus ride to the nearest amusement park took a bit over an hour, and daniel spends more than half of the journey pondering on what people do on dates. it's not as if this would be his _first_ —he's been on a number of dates from a variety of people, and he has been in a couple of relationships that involved a routine of romantic rendezvous. one could say that he's quite experienced in the act, but there is a tiny technicality in the present context that kept his full-blown bravado at bay:

none of his dates have ever been _jisung._

 _it shouldn't be hard,_ he thinks, half-heartedly paying for both of their theme park passes with the help of a mobile app. jisung is his _best friend,_ for heaven's sake, and traversing the thin line between platonic and romantic shouldn't be that big of a problem.  
  
but perhaps that is where the main problem lies. jisung knows _too much_ about him--probably more than he could ever claim to know about himself. he's seen how he looks like in the morning, ash blonde hair sticking out in the most awkward places, a corner of his mouth stained with drying drool. he's seen almost every dance routine he has ever made for his auditions, has been part of countless of mini vlogs about the joy of being a university student-slash-part-time dance instructor. he's watched him melt in front of cats, coo in front of dogs, rid himself of every speck of ego in front of children below the ages of six and seven. he's witnessed him in every possible state—sober, drunk, conscious, sleepy, over-the-moon, depressed, angry. (and yes, he has seen him naked, to the point that he has forgotten to blush every time the unfortunate happens.)  
  
that's the _thing_ : jisung has seen almost everything from daniel, and daniel fears that he has _nothing_ left to show.  
  
"—shoulder, niel?"  
  
daniel's reverie is put on hold when he hears the last bits of something jisung had said, and he blinks himself back to reality to answer to the call.  
  
"mhm?" he hums, eyes wide and questioning. "what was that, hyung?"  
  
"i asked if i could borrow your shoulder for a while, niel." jisung lets ouf a monosyllabic chuckle, and daniel wonders if he's noticed the small lag in his train of thought. "it's still a good forty minutes to the park, and i think i could use a nap."  
  
"oh." daniel simply nods at the casual request, patting his shoulder to invite the other to lean in. "sure. did you get any sleep last night?"  
  
"barely," jisung hums as he rests his head on the younger's shoulder, shifting in his seat to a more comfortable posture. "the production team sent in a revised script for the next audition. i think they're trying to get me to play the lead for this one."  
  
"then go for it," daniel briefly glances at his elder, his hand automatically giving the other's thigh a supportive squeeze. jisung hums , and daniel feels him nuzzle ever so slightly against his form. "i'll wake you up when we're at the stop"  
  
but he _doesn't._ as soon as jisung drifts to the land of slumber, daniel's thoughts immediately revert to his present dilemma. his thoughts are much too focused on the erratic beats of his own heart to even notice that the bus has arrived in their designated stop, and it isn't until he feels relief from the weight on his shoulder that he snaps out of his daydream.  
  
"we're here, niel." jisung coaxes, stretching as much as the little space allows him to before beginning to stand up. "let's go."  
  
a little clock begins ticking in daniel's head.  
  
_tick._  what is he going to do? this is supposed to be a date—he should come up with something more romantic!  
  
_tock_. is he even supposed to do _anything_? jisung is his friend—his very best, if he were being honest. what do people even do when they impulsively ask their best friends out on a date? and for no good reason, too—he's a _replacement,_ for heaven's sake.    
  
_tick._  should he even be thinking about _this_ too much? he's _kang daniel,_ for heaven's sake, and kang daniel does not think things through. kang daniel runs through a storm without an umbrella to save a box of stray kittens from being drowned by the downpour. kang daniel raises his hand in class even before knowing the right answer. kang daniel speaks before he thinks, kang daniel follows his heart instead of his head. kang daniel--  
  
"we should hold hands,"—throws away any semblance of nervousness out of the window and grabs jisung's hand before it could be too far to reach.  
  
jisung blinks, obviously surprised by the sudden action, but he does not pull away from the younger's grasp. "hm? why, though?"  
  
and this is when daniel thinks he should've actually thought before he did anything, but he is _kang daniel_ and this kang daniel only tightens his grip on jisung's hand, finally doing something in character for once and speaking before he thinks.  
  
"it's a date, right?" he motions with a smile, his thumb flitting over the smooth skin on the back of jisung's palm. "we should do it _properly,_ at least."  
  
there's a pause in their conversation, but daniel takes the way jisung pulls him out of his seat as enough affirmation. his grin goes from ear to ear as he locks their fingers together, and there is a small skip in his step (not unlike the teeny skips of his heart), as they both alight from the vehicle.

it takes another five minutes for them to walk to the entrance, and daniel takes his precious time getting himself used to the feeling of having jisung's hand in his. jisung's hand, for the lack of a better term, is nice—his fingers are lean and his palm is tiny, a perfect fit in daniel's larger one. it's warm, but not sweaty, and daniel thinks that all the sweat would be coming from him, but he likes to believe jisung doesn't mind, and the mere fact that the man has yet to let go is enough confirmation that he is good with whatever it is that is happening.  
  
the amusement park isn't too crowded on a weekday, and the pre-noon sun shines brightly overhead. daniel only has to scan his phone by the turnstiles to get both of them through, and the cheery usherette offers them her most pr-worthy smile as she welcomes them inside.  
  
daniel, for the lack of a better term, is an absolute _mess._ he went with his guts and asked his jisung hyung out in the most impromptu of whims, but what he didn't expect were the butterflies that were beginning to take space somewhere in his stomach. it's a surprise, really, because this wouldn't be the first time he's hung out with only the man in tow in their many years of friendship, but it's the first time he's ever doubted his own intentions—did he actually have anything beyond platonic, good-hearted reasons prior to this rendezvous?  
  
(probably. but that's a thought for much, much later.)   
  
"we should get one of those!" daniel offers, thanking his lucky stars that he spots one of the outdoor souvenir shops before his ideas could even veer towards the unthinkable. like an excitable puppy, he drags the older male to the shop with him, stopping in front of an assortment of animal headbands, paws, ribbons, and other trademark knick-knacks.  
  
"you're really serious about this, aren't you?" jisung comments, his bottom lip poised into a pout as he picks a pair of red panda ears from the available items. "holding hands, couple headbands...if i didn't know you well i would've—"  
  
"would've what?" daniel stops jisung's litany before he could even blurt out anything he fears, choosing a pair of white samoyed ears from the rack and fixing it atop his head. "i did say i'm taking you out on a real date, hyung—doesn't this feel real enough?"  
  
jisung makes an expression that daniel finds hard to read, surprisingly, but the elder drops the question in favor of arranging his selected accessory atop his own head.  
  
"does it fit me?" he aks, tilting his head to one side in inquisition. daniel finds it weirdly adorable.  
  
"mhm." daniel nods with a scrunch of his nose, and he mirrors the elder's expression, poking his own cheek for added effect. "how about me?"  
  
"like a real puppy," jisung teases, reaching up to gently pinch daniel's cheek. "my cute niel-ah~"  
  
"ah, hyung." daniel whines, pouting like a petulant as he swats jisung's hand away in favor of holding it against his own. jisung raises a brow but says nothing, intertwining their fingers instead as they walk towards the counter. "i'm your date today—stop treating me like a _kid_."  
  
"fine, fine," jisung banters with a soft grin, a chuckle finding its way between his spoken syllables.

 

* * *

 

**t - five hours**

  
there is an abundance of things that people can do in amusement parks, but daniel is much too busy trying to figure out what to do on amusement park dates to even focus on anything. they've been walking around the vast expanse of the park for a good several minutes, trying to find something to ride and enjoy beyond the corn dogs they inhaled earlier. both of them have decided to leave the high-excitement rides after they've fully digested their food, so now they are looking for lighter alternatives that did not involve static horses going round and round in a slow circle.  
  
"oh! that's _huge!_ " daniel exclaims all-so-suddenly, his eyes immediately brightening at a gigantic cat plushie hanging from one of the arcade game stalls. with haste, he runs to the game area, pulling along jisung who almost trips in his surprise.  
  
contrary to popular belief, daniel wasn't born yesterday. he knows quite well that most of these games are rigged, and that it would take more than luck and insane amount of bills to actually get anything from their many tiers of prizes. still, it doesn't stop him from declaring to the world (or to his, hyung, really) that he would win the biggest prize—the same cat plush that made him exclaim quite loudly in the middle of the walkways.  
  
(a little voice in his head is saying he really just wants it as part of his growing collection of humongous plushies, but mostly, it's to _impress_.)  
  
"you don't have to," jisung assures, but he pats daniel's butt for goodluck as he prepares to take his first shot at the bottle stacks. "you know how these are—"  
  
"shhhh..." daniel reprimands, holding a finger to his lips as he refocuses on the targets. "i can do this. just believe in me, hyung."  
  
jisung lets out a fond sigh at the other's chivalrous stance. "alright."  
  
daniel has a total of three attempts for success, and he takes a rather deep breath to calm his nerves before he takes his first shot at the arcade game. his expression is serious, his aura brimming with competitiveness as he eases into a throwing position, launching the hefty ball into the air and straight at the heart of the stack of bottles. he knocks over two of the three, an obvious fail, but he has two more throws he can use to win.  
  
"you did good, you did good," he hears jisung assure from behind him, and that gives him enough of a confidence boost to do better with each succeeding throw. still, a bottle will always be left on the game table after his attempt, and daniel is out of further chances.  
  
he fishes another bill to hand over to the ecstatic game-master, but jisung snatches the ball from one of the ushers before it could even grasp his hand, aiming with a curve at one of the rearranged stacks. it must've been a stroke of hefty luck, as jisung's throw manages to topple all three bottles off of the game table, much to daniel's surprise.  
  
" _wow_ —how did you do that?" daniel queries, obviously excited, but jisung simply gives a shrug for an answer.  
  
"one more, and you'll win the grand prize, sir!" the usher exclaims, making daniel's excitement dampen, but jisung simply attempts two more (unsuccessful) strikes before finally accepting the consolation that came in the form of matching kitten phone straps.  
  
it's daniel who begins to fish out another bill to try the game once more, his competitive streak refusing to give up at the chance of winning the giant plush, but jisung pulls him away from the arcade game stall before he goes broke over a game that's too rigged to forgive.  
  
"just one more, hyung!" he whines, pouting and raising a digit as he pleads for another try at the game. "i can win it for you!"  
  
"you can buy one for me in the souvenir shop with half the cost, niel-ah." jisung half-scolds, shaking his head as he continues to drag the younger male away, not pausing in his march until they're considerably set further away from the game stalls. "plus, we have _these_."  
  
daniel's eyes soften at the pink and purple pair of kitten straps that the elder won, and a tiny twinge of regret tugs at his heart at the mere thought of not being able to win anything for his hyung. jisung must've noticed his dejection, as he feels a tiny squeeze on his own hand, and he is met with the warmth of jisung's smile the moment he is cut-off from a self-depreciating train of thought.  
  
daniel thinks his cheeks are as pink as the kitten toy on jisung's hands. frankly, he is not wrong.  
  
"you can take this," jisung motions, letting go of the younger's hand to unhook the pink kitten strap from its cardboard tag and handing it off with a soft grin. "and i'll take this one."  
  
he takes the purple one to attach to his own phone, shaking it a few times to ensure that it is snug in position. "cute, right?"  
  
"yeah." daniel is still pouting, still quite miffed that he wasn't the one who won the prize for the both of them. " _still_ —i really do think i could've won that cat plush for you, if i tried another time."  
  
"eh." jisung moves to pinch daniel's cheek, but he stops himself in time and opts to hold daniel's hand instead, giving it another reassuring squeeze. "don't mind it too much, daniel. there are other games we can play."  
  
there must be something in his own words that jisung himself did not decipher, as daniel's face brightens up to it's usual puppy-like radiance, and he is again leading the way through the bright brick and cobblestone of the amusement park, obviously with a new destination in mind.  
  
"i know _exactly_ where to go, hyung!" he exclaims, almost too proudly, and jisung doubles his steps to keep up with the younger's speed.

 

* * *

**  
t - four hours**

 

daniel thinks—no, _knows_ —that he is especially good in three areas: petting cats, learning new things, and dancing.  
  
he's been too distracted with thinking of ways on how to impress jisung in the entirety of his date that he has completely forgotten that he's a lauded dance major, with a part-time stint at one of the biggest dance studios that seoul could ever offer. if he wants to impress jisung, all he really needed to do was go on the floor and dish out some sweet moves—it shouldn't take much to get him swooning. right?  
  
but they're at an amusement park, a few miles away from the wooden floors and floor-length mirrors of their practice rooms. so he instead drags the elder to the next best thing: a dance dance revolution machine in the middle of a busy gaming arcade.  
  
"i challenge you to a duel!" daniel imitates a gentleman's bow as their pair reaches the front of the colorfully-lit machine. "i'm _really_ good at this, hyung—i may not be able to win you a plush, but i could get us some tickets to exchange for a better prize."  
  
"a dance major going against a theater actor in DDR doesn't exactly make for a good duel, niel," jisung teases, but steps on the opposing platform, nonetheless. "but, i'll accept your challenge. this _is_ better than watching your burn bills on those rigged fair games."  
  
daniel huffs despite jisung's eyesmile, but he keys in a familiar song and turns the level to the extremes as a form of petty revenge for the implication.  
  
"yah, i'm gonna trip with this speed!"  jisung scolds, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he prepares for the first flurry of arrows to conquer.  
  
"nonsense! you have a minor in dance, hyung—" daniel banters, grin as wide as a sure winner's. his feet are quick to tap the onslaught of keys to the beat of the techno music blaring through the machine's speakers. "you have as good of a chance as i do!"  
  
_lies._ daniel's screen is filled with _good! excellent! perfect!_ while jisung's own has a haphazard scattering of okays and misses. it wasn't that jisung was a bad dancer, it's just that his legs are more used to the intricate blockings of a theatre's stage than on the fiberglass keys of a DDR machine. daniel, on the other hand, feels quite at home on the plasticky slab, eyes expertly trained on the multiple arrows coming his way, his feet never missing to tap on a key in time with the cacophonic beat.  
  
not surprisingly, daniel finishes while setting a new high score on the machine, and he happily keys 'KDN' in the roster of winners. he is ecstatic once he turns towards his companion, though he does startle a bit once he sees jisung simply leaning on the protective railing, pouting like a kid that got cheated off from a good deal on candy.  
  
"you didn't do too bad, hyung," daniel reassures the other, wiping away the sweat on the other's brow with a part of his sleeve. he chuckles when jisung huffs in a most spoiled manner and turns his gaze away. "you only got an F because you quit in the middle of the song."  
  
"whatever," jisung sniffs, his nose still high in the air despite daniel's fuss over his sweaty skin. "you're a _show-off_."  
  
"eh." daniel's tone automatically goes a few knobs higher, doing a quick imitation of a cat with his hands clenched into make-shift paws as he does petting motions against his cheeks. "don't be mad, hyung. i think i got enough tickets for a prize too"  
  
jisung doesn't budge, so daniel takes it as his cue to poke his cheek and prod on with the cutest voice he can muster. "you can choose."  
  
daniel grins as he sees his hyung struggling to bite back a giggle, and that's what makes him sure that all the prior anger was fake.  
  
"okay, fine." jisung rolls his eyes and steps off of the machine to go towards the prize booth, but daniel is quick to catch up to his steps so he could intertwine their fingers once more. consistency is another thing daniel is good at, and this is what he tells himself to find peace at the fact that he's gotten used to having his hyung's hand in his.  
  
the arcade offers a selection of prizes that range from food items to plush toys, but jisung selects an apeach inspired character cotton candy stick with the tickets from daniel's high score. it is also jisung who carries the huge confectionery out of the arcade and into the open area of the park (not without a quip about daniel's own clumsiness, a thing that the ash-blonde male didn't forget to pout about), but is daniel who finds them a seat a bit far away from the ongoing exhibition of roses  
  
"there's too many people over there, hyung!" he says as an excuse, but jisung reads him too easily.  
  
"you just don't want the bees to get to you," jisung banters, and daniel lets out a bashful chuckle as he drags them away from the scene  
  
the cotton candy is more than enough to share, and daniel takes the stick and holds it in the space between them, urging jisung to take the first bite. the elder nods and dives in, securing a rather huge glob with his teeth, and daniel laughs as he watches the other struggle in stuffing the entire puff of sugary string inside his mouth.  
  
"mmm," jisung hums in satisfaction, and daniel takes it as his cue to take a bite off of apeach's cheeks, and he smiles as the sweet taste coats the expanse of his tongue. his hyung made a good choice with the flavors, and daniel solemnly nods in approval at the conversation taking place inside his head.  
  
"come to think of it," jisung breaks the comfortable silence, pinching off a portion of cotton candy to eat. "didn't your hair look like this before?" he queries, motioning to the peach-pink hue that the confectionery holds.  
  
"yeah," daniel half-mumbles, his mouth too full of candy to even properly speak.  
  
"you should do that again—it looked good on you, you know?"  
  
daniel almost chokes at the sudden compliment, a thing that he covers up with a series of light chuckles. "maybe next _spring,_ hyung."  
  
he moves to take another bite off of the character's disfigured head, but it seems as if jisung had the same idea, as daniel finds himself with barely a few centimeters distance from his hyung's face. his eyes widen at the proximity, and he backs up a bit in shock, earning a questioning head tilt from the elder who continues to peacefully chew on the peachy strings of sugar.  
  
"what?" jisung asks, and daniel doesn't exactly know how to answer his question. he can feel his cheeks heating up, and he is sure that their color mimics the pink glow on apeach's own visage. he thinks hard for an excuse, anything that could explain the sudden skip in his heart and the flutter in his stomach, but he finds none that is fit for use.    
  
so, he opts to use the next best thing: _distraction._  
  
"a bee!" he exclaims, pointing at a random patch of air, and he switches the hold of the candy stick to his other hand so he could take jisung's own in his and bolt towards an unknown direction. jisung might have had some protests on the sudden interruption, but all of it is lost in daniel's haste to get away from the terrorizing bug (read: to escape having to explain the erratic beats of his tell-tale heart).

  
****

* * *

**  
  
t - three hours**

 

if he is to be asked on his favorite aspects of technology, it would be the ease of getting information off of the vast recesses of the world wide web. daniel only has to key in a couple of search codes that varied from ' _best date spots in amusement parks'_ and ' _how to impress a best friend you took out on a date for the first time_ ' and he is given a million and one top ten lists from the hottest sites that millennials prowl in.  
  
bumper cars were high on the list, and that is the first place daniel dragged jisung to after their little "duel" in the arcades. the lines are the longest in one of the most well-coveted areas of the amusement park, but daniel didn't mind as it gave him the time to process whatever otherworldly thing happened on the benches earlier, to the tune of the cacophonic EDM the facility chose to play.  
  
it must've been the _proximity_. yup, that should be it. it isn't everyday that he comes face to face with jisung's _face,_ and the distance left between them was almost at zero, so of course he would be shocked. it totally isn't because he felt anything out of the ordinary—like how he could count every individual eyelash on his hyung's lids—and it totally isn't anything beyond the ultimately platonic intentions he used as reasoning behind this entire affair.   
  
but what is he _feeling_? daniel isn't good in terms of putting labels onto things, but this is a thing he would love to attach a nameon. jisung is his _best friend._ best friends aren't supposed to make each other's heart skip a beat. best friends aren't supposed to make each other's palms feel sweaty, even if it is high noon, underneath the scorching sun. best friends aren't supposed to blush at almost every single moment the other does something cute.  
  
_best friends,_ if he were to be asked, aren't supposed to take each other out on romantic dates, but here he is breaking rule number one of whatever guide book it is that exists.  
  
but whatever. he is kang daniel. rules _never_ apply to him.  
  
he slaps both of his cheeks in an attempt to return to the present, an act that is met with a quirked brow from his companion. but jisung doesn't ask.  instead, he taps him twice on the shoulder to show him of a cute dance they can do in time with the music.  
  
so, daniel follows, shoving every single unnecessary thought to the back of his head while doing a modified macarena to the bumper car's EDM playlist. their pair dance earn a couple of giggles from the amused park goers, but daniel's eyes are focused on jisung's gleeful eyesmiles alone, practically mesmerized by the grin plastered on his lips.  
  
their turn finally comes and every single confusing thought that daniel has flies out of the proverbial window in his head, replaced only by a competitive flame that aimed only to hit jisung's vehicle as many times as jisung's hit his. it makes for a lovely sight, really—two tall, good-looking boys, seemingly lost in their own little world as they chase each other around the tiny oval, their jovial laughter echoing amidst the vast space that surround them.  
  
(it's not until the last minute that they change their target to another person; to a mean looking man who purposefully hit a little girl's car too hard, effectively making her experience a tear-filled time instead of that of pure fun. jisung was already looking at daniel when he was about to signal for an attack, and their grins were ever villainous as they cornered the guy to the edge with a double hit that would teach him never to bully little girls again— _not_ on their watch at least)  
  
the siren blares to cue the ride ending, and daniel is pulled out of his seat by a frantic jisung, who is keen to get out of the attraction and move to a place further away in case the guy they ganged up on was the confrontative sort.  
  
"over here!" jisung half-shouts and half-whispers, motioning to a narrow alleyway in between the bumper cars and the park's restrooms. for a second, daniel feels like he is james bond on an undercover mission, and his hand automatically seeks jisung's own once they are in holding proximity.  
  
"he won't remember us, right?" daniel asks, a bit of joking worry etched on his boyish visage. jisung must've noticed it, as his next move is to squeeze the other's hand and throw his brightest grin at his direction.  
  
"i hope not—" jisung motions, peeking out from the opposing wall to see if they have been followed. "but this place is _huge_ —it'll take him the whole day to even find us among all of the young adults on a date in this park."  
  
_date._ there's the word, and there's the tell-tale skip of his heart. but before daniel could dwell on the casually thrown term, jisung has dragged him to their next impromptu venue, and all is again forgotten in favor of focusing on the rush of jisung's hand in his.  
  
they take the merry-go-round next—not without daniel's whining—and they decide to make the ride more exciting by taking the most ridiculous selfies whenever the contraption finishes a revolution. seongwoo would definitely be the unfortunate recipient of these, but daniel knows that the boy would never mind, as it makes for good blackmail material.  
  
lunch is corn dogs and churros that they got from one of the stalls scattered around the park's surrounding area, and they share a large cup of strawberry ade in an attempt to save money as amusement park food is quite expensive. they check out booths and ride that caterpillar attraction that goes forward and back, and decide that the roller coaster could wait until after their food has been digested.  
  
"how about the _ferris wheel_?" jisung volunteers, and daniel almost automatically leads the way without batting an eyelash. the ferris wheel, after all, is the number one suggested ride on almost every single one of his lists.  
  
except, it's not yet time for the romantic sunset that the articles suggest. but daniel doesn't mind. he's been experiencing really weird flurries of emotion ever since the date begun and he knows that the ambience that a sunset ride creates would just make it worse. so he goes in, hand in hand with jisung, four whole hours away from the sunset that the lists helpfully suggest.  
  
he sits across jisung, all in the name of balancing the ride out, his gaze mostly trained on the scenery below. he sees the elder do the same, his legs crossed and his eyes glued to the receding view of the amusement park.  
  
for some otherworldly reason, daniel's brain picks this exact moment as the best time to _stare_. it is a bit after three in the afternoon and the sun's rays create a perfect silhouette of jisung's profile, accentuating the pretty arch of his nose, the soft curve of his lip. he wonders how he hasn't noticed how intricate jisung's features are before, but all the realization does is make his heart do a little flip in his rib cage, and he knows, from the heat on his cheeks that his train of thought is about to go to a place he isn't sure he wants to venture.  
  
jisung is _beautiful_ ; daniel realizes inside an amusement park gondola. a little part of him wants to do the suggested activity for ferris wheels in the list he had pulled up: kiss his date when they reach the uppermost stop, but he doesn't know if he could charm his way out of such an impromptu act.  
  
"kang daniel," jisung calls, effectively breaking his train of thought, and daniel shakes his head back to reality, shoving every otherwordly thought he has to the back of his head.  
  
"mhm?" he hums in attention, thanking his lucky stars that his throat did not give any sign of nerves despite his situation. he manages an awkward grin that earns a chuckle from the elder, which is the most he could wish for in this rather tricky situation.   
  
"are you falling for me?"  
  
daniel blinks in rapid successions, unable to believe what he has heard. on normal occasions, he would've jokingly said _yes_ , even adding a little quip about being the heroine of a melodrama with the way that jisung made him feel.  
  
but this is the furthest he could be from a normal occasion. it's as if the cogs in his head have refused to work all at once, and he could not even think of a witty line to banter with in an attempt to fluster jisung as much as jisung flustered him. there is but a single word flashing in a neon sign in the proverbial street that winds through his head, and he would've said it, as he would have _normally_ done, if not for the aching sense of fear attached to unwarranted, brutal honesty.  
  
_yes,_ his subconscious screams. but daniel refuses to open his mouth to speak, his face mirroring silent shock as he stares at the man across from him.  
  
"i was _joking_ , niel." jisung motions, and daniel tries his best not to flinch from his gaze of supposed comfort. "i mean, i wouldn't mind but—"  
  
daniel's ears flare hot and red at the implication.  
  
"— _jeesh_. what's gotten into you?" jisung's brows furrow at the uncharacteristic act, and he places his palm atop daniel's forehead, checking for any signs of a possible fever. "it's not the height, is it?"  
  
" _no_." comes daniel's quick answer. "i—"  
  
he takes jisung's hand from his forehead but does not let go, instead rubbing circles on the back of jisung's palm with his thumb. he looks dazed, lost in thought. he is not conscious enough to pray that jisung doesn't notice, but jisung simply intertwines their fingers and gives his hand a tiny squeeze. daniel doesn't know if he wants to curse.   
  
"you?" jisung prods on, gently, and daniel hears an expectation in his tone.  
  
"i—"  
  
the ride comes to a screeching halt and an usherette opens their gondola's door before daniel could even say anything. jisung steps out of the pod first, and daniel sees his hand already outstretched and ready for his own. and he takes it. he lets jisung intertwine their fingers once more, the sense of consistency helping still his racing thoughts.  
  
daniel doesn't continue his line from earlier, and jisung doesn't push him to do so either. jisung only holds his hand tighter, and daniel is thankful that he has something else to focus on beyond the nagging sensation of an almost conf—  
  
_that can't be right,_  he thinks to himself, chuckling under his breath as he shakes the thought away from his conscious. _it can't be._

 

* * *

 

**t - two hours**

 

daniel sits on one of the nearer park benches with a cool cloth over his brow—jisung's idea, not his—his head leaned against the backboard as he waits for the elder to return. jisung has left him to search for bottles of water to drink, as his "weird behavior" may have been a sign of dehydration, as both of them have been avoiding overspending on any sort of food item from the amusement park's overpriced stalls.  
  
but he's not dehydrated. he doesn't even need this stupid cool cloth on his head, which, in hindsight, he could've easily removed the moment jisung disappeared from his line of sight. except, he knows that it is not a good idea to trifle with the elder in his more motherly moments, so daniel decides to just enjoy the damp sensation on his head, and maybe use it to distract himself from any further thought on whatever is the matter with his emotions.  
  
it really isn't helping much, though. his conscious still veers into the matter at hand, which is the entire debacle at the ferris wheel just a few minutes ago.

what was he about to say, anyway? he can't even call it a confession—he doesn't even know what he would've confessed if he continued on with whatever he was planning to enunciate. he only managed a single syllable—i—and it could've been followed by practically anything.   
  
for example _—i'm hungry_ , in typical daniel fashion. or  _i'm daniel kang_ , in a more stupid rendition.  
  
he laughs to himself at the variety of dumb banters he could've said at that moment, but he still couldn't bring himself to ignore the fact that he might've said something that played on three words and 8 letters ( _say it, i'm yours_ , but he's not ready to be blair just yet), and he's sure as hell that it wouldn't be _i am groot_.  
  
"this _shouldn't_ be happening," he mutters to the air as he splays his limbs across the narrow bench, a smile still curled upon his lips despite the frustration etched in his tone.  
  
he has no idea why he's screwing up so badly in the middle of this date, when a couple of hours ago it was nothing more than out-of-the-blue blushes and little skips in the beat of his heart in the most absurd of moments. it isn't as if he hasn't gone on dates before, and it isn't as if this would be the first time he's hung out with just _the_  yoon jisung. but it is the first in a supposedly romantic context—albeit only half-serious, he thinks ~~(he believes)~~ —so he guesses that _that_  is where the butterflies came.

it's not as if he's not enjoying himself, though, bar the confusing emotions attached to his present situation. he could make bets with the daniels of the past and say that this is the best one he's ever gone to in his twenty-one years on earth. jisung is a good date—attentive and funny, caring and endearing, and he does not feel the need to put on a pretense of perfection like how he does with every other person he invites. plus, his hand is soft, zero-percent sweaty, and he uses a nice smelling hand cream that leaves a soothing scent on his own palm—

(—maybe it's the scent. yeah.  _blame it on the hand cream, kang daniel._ )   
  
the point is, jisung is his _friend_ —his very best in all checked standards. but his heart is doing things that shouldn't be done in the terms of the platonic, and his brain is thinking up of scenarios that cross beyond the borders of friendship. and daniel is _scared_. very scared. because he doesn't know what to do if this change of pace would ruin whatever relationship they've established for the many years they've known each other. and heck knows that daniel _likes_ being jisung's friend.  
  
~~problem is, he knows he'll probably also enjoy being so much more.~~  
  
"what am i even _thinking_ ," he asks, mostly as rhetoric, a hand shooting up against his head as his thoughts veer to that area once more. he expects no answer, but—  
  
"i would like to know the same thing, niel-ah" —in comes jisung's voice, and daniel sits up quick enough to give himself whiplash, the cool cloth falling from his forehead down to his lap as he does so.   
  
jisung looks on with even more suspicion, so daniel does what he does best and attempts to giggle his way out of the sticky situation.  
  
"you're back," he states the obvious, grabbing one of the water bottles from an exasperated-looking elder, his own grin ever bright despite the panic ringing in his head. "did you go somewhere far?"   
  
"mhm," jisung nods in affirmation and motions for daniel to scoot and give him space. daniel complies, feeling the temperature rise a wee bit at the proximity.   
  
_it's definitely the handcream_ , he thinks.   
  
"so," it's jisung who speaks again, arms crossed over his chest as he gives a half-glare to his companion. the intensity almost makes daniel choke on his water. "are you going to tell me what is wrong with you, or am i going to have to pretend to be your psychiatrist  _again_?"  
  
cue daniel defense one: a loud guffaw enough to startle the birds in the nearby vicinity.   
  
"no, no— _nothing's_ wrong with me, hyung!" as if to prove a point, daniel stands from the bench to do a couple of jumping jacks, earning some curious stares from passers-by and a loud groan from yoon jisung. "i'm okay now. i _just_ —"   
  
he almost slips and says he was lost in thought, but he stops and decides against the revelation as it would just lead to more questions about his sanity.   
  
"just _what_?" as expected, jisung catches the little pause, and daniel is forced to think about his next words once again.   
  
"just—" cue daniel defense two:  _distraction_. he points to the nearest attraction he can find and shouts—"let's go there, hyung!"  
  
jisung follows his finger, but it must've been an out of character choice as his expression immediately contorts into that of confusion.   
  
" _really,_ niel? don't you hate haunted houses?"  
  
oh, is that what he picked?  
  
well... _shit._    
  
"it's...it's an amusement park tradition, hyung!" daniel sees no way out of this blunder, so he instead takes jisung's hand and begins pulling him towards the creepy attraction. he can feel his knees going weaker with every step, but this is a grave he's dug for himself, and what best way to ignore his fears by facing another one in his growing list?  
  
"daniel," jisung calls, tone laced with motherly worry, "we _really_ don't have to if you don't—"  
  
"i want to!" _no, he doesn't_ , but he hopes his eyesmile says otherwise as they begin to line-up for his untimely death. "it won't be too scary if you're with me, hyung!"  
  
the declaration gives him false hope, as it seems to succeed in convincing jisung to let him go, and he hears a sigh of defeat from the elder. still, it doesn't lessen the fact that this stroke of luck is nothing but a bad idea in the making, as daniel could barely walk two steps into the darkness without screaming his lungs out. jisung keeps his grip firm on his hand, even if daniel is already pushing him out in a half-hug in an effort to get away from the aggressive monsters. at the very least, his fear of ghosts trump his fear of unknown feelings, so he gets a couple of moments of relative peace from the horrendous experience.   
  
it doesn't stop the entire thing from being a stupid idea, though. daniel practically waddles out of the house of horrors, his face buried in jisung's back, his grip tight on either of his shoulders. he feels the elder lead him to a nearby bench (seems like benches are the main setting of this date, huh), and he takes care in his steps as he refuses to take his head off the elder's form until they are far enough from the haunted mansion. he sits when he is instructed to sit, and moves his head only when jisung maneuvers them to a more comfortable position.   
  
they must look incredibly _ridiculous_. two tall boys felled by a fake ghost attraction, the taller one whimpering against the slighter as the latter runs a hand through his hair in consolation. but to be quite honest, daniel doesn't care. he hates ghosts, and jisung is the best-smelling safety space he could ever afford in this lifetime. jisung is warm too—the comfortable kind, and the soothing motions he does on his scalp are doing wonders to calm his frazzled nerves. using his fear as an excuse, he lets himself nuzzle in further, as far as jisung's neck permits, his arms wrapping around jisung's waist to pull him ever closer.  
  
"i _told_ you," jisung lightly scolds, but he keeps his hand on daniel's head, rubbing his back from time to time to ease his shivers. "we didn't have to go."  
  
daniel doesn't respond, much, opting instead to whimper against jisung's shoulder, like a puppy caught in a barrage of fireworks.   
  
"do you want to go home?" jisung asks, and daniel violently shakes his head in the negative.  
  
"do you want to go somewhere else?"  
  
two nods.  
  
normally, daniel would've opted to go home after such a terrifying experience, but a huge part—scratch that— _all of him_ wants to spend a bit more time with jisung in this context, so he wills himself to calm down enough for another adventure, another round of fun. finally, he frees jisung from his grasp, taking in a sharp breath of air before putting-on a shaky but cheery grin to assure the other of his clearer mental state.   
  
"i'm okay, hyung." he motions, sniffling for one last time before doing his signature peace sign over his eye. "i can't be like this when i'm on a date with you..." a sheepish scratch to the back of his neck "...ah, what has become of my image now"  
  
jisung laughs at his ridiculous banter, "you have no image left to protect with me, daniel."   
  
daniel feigns offense with a hand to his heart. "talk about adding insult to injury! you _wound_ me, hyung."   
  
"tell that to my hand, okay?" jisung teases, but daniel knows he is well-meaning as he does not protest when he takes jisung's hand in his the moment the latter raises it for evidence of swelling (there was none). "anyway, i know there's a cat cafe here somewhere—maybe we should go there to wind down from this...experience." 

 

* * *

  
  
  
**t - one hour**

 

the cat cafe is the newest addition to the amusement park's long list of attractions. it's a quaint little venue near the safari and the petting zoo, decorated with pastel interiors and cat-print wallpapers that supposedly make the pretty felines feel more at home. smooth cafe jazz filters through the overhead speakers, and the melody forms a steady harmony with the mewling and purring of the four-legged companions.  
  
daniel and jisung sit on the innermost corner of the cafe, jisung's hands already full with one tabby, one persian, and one munchkin fighting for his attention. it doesn't take long until jisung is forced to venture far from the couch and into the middle of the play pen, where he is gently assaulted by a bunch of cats from many different breeds and families.   
  
it's not too unusual of the scene, really, especially to an outside observer. but here's the catch: daniel _loves_ cats— _adores_ them, really, more than any animal in the world. he even has two of his own—peter and luna— ~~(im)~~ patiently waiting for him to return home. so it is quite weird that he just sits on the couch, mouth slightly hung, his eyes soullessly staring at a single, unimpressive corner of the establishment.  
  
but it's hard to focus on cats when his brain is riddled with a million confusing thoughts, all in an attempt to make sense of whatever his heart is doing in the entirety of this rendezvous. all he knows is that he isn't _supposed_ to feel this way—not for his best friend, who he's known all his life, and who knows him more than he would ever know himself.   
  
maybe he _does_ have a fever. but jisung has checked his temperature one time too many during this date and all the heat he probably feels is the heat that comes from embarrassment—a warm, blushing shyness from the proximity—so it's probably not some deadly disease of sorts.   
  
maybe (he stops himself from snickering at this thought; _barely_ ) it's alien abduction. maybe he's been lifted off into space and transferred in an alternate reality, where butterflies attack his stomach with every smile that jisung gives him, where the screws in his head click to a stop with every touch, every brush of their hands.   
  
or maybe, just _maybe_ —  
  
"stop sulking."  
  
his train of thought is halted with a bunch of paws clawing at his thigh, courtesy of the man who has made him stop and think for the most times in his entire existence. daniel blinks, his hands automatically moving to collect the tiny kittens and keep them from falling off of his lap, and he looks up to a jisung pointedly squinting— _glaring?_ —at his face.   
  
"it's not a good look on you, niel-ah," jisung motions with a shake of his head. "go play with the cats. it's what we're here for, you know?"  
  
daniel uselessly nods at the suggestion, and he slides off of the couch to do as he is told, scampering around for a string toy to lure the kittens in. it keeps his mind off a couple of things, but the little act opened his eyes to  _something._  
  
that's the thing about _feelings_. it hits in the most unexpected of times, from the most unexpected of gestures. daniel doesn't know if he likes the spontaneity or despises it, but he decides to put off the decision in favor of staring at jisung from across the room, the latter in the middle of a giggling fit from a cat straying inside his shirt.   
  
a gray persian crawls on daniel's lap and nestles against his thighs. his fingers automatically move to stroke its soft fur, but his eyes are still locked on target, unmoving, almost unblinking.   
  
this is what daniel sees.   
  
jisung is _pretty._ a beautiful combination, both inside and out.  
  
jisung's eyelashes are long—perfectly framing his pretty hues that scrunch to a line whenever he is smiling. his nose is aristocratic, straight and high, and though the owner thinks it makes him look like a bird of sorts, daniel thinks its a perfect fit to wrap-up his delicate look. his skin is milky white, a stark contrast to reddish lips made even brighter by tint, and daniel knows he's thought about kissing those chops more than once in their many years of friendship.   
  
(and maybe he _has_. jisung kisses people when he's drunk, and daniel clings like there is no tomorrow. but the thought of having kissed the elder in a drunken stupor makes him blush and panic, and the gray persian startles out of his grasp, leaving him alone to wonder and ponder)  
  
jisung's hands are _caring._ they're soft to the touch and wonderful to hold.    
  
daniel thinks it would be nice to be the munchkin being blessed by jisung's loving strokes, and he doesn't shake the thought off until a tabby scratches at his hand for ample attention. he pulls the chubby cat to his lap and scratches behind its ear until it is satisfied and purring.   
  
then, he continues his watch.   
  
jisung is _teasing_ —witty to a fault, and knowledgeable of all his weak spots. but he also knows when to stop and sit, when to use that wit to comfort instead of mock. he's _motherly_ —his friends have proclaimed him as the mother of their circle, and rightfully so, as they would've probably died without his gentle guidance and sincere care.

but daniel knows, despite fervent denial, that that is not the way he sees the elder.   
  
the tabby slips from his grasp in favor of cleaning itself in a nearby corner, but daniel cannot be bothered to care.   
  
jisung is now looking at him, head tilted to the side in curious inquisition.   
  
in true jisung fashion, the elder makes a funny face at the attention and daniel instantly bursts into a series of chuckles. a couple of cats seem spooked by the rather loud chortle, but jisung is quick to stroke their backs to calm them down before the attendant could even go and shush them for the ruckus.   
  
and that is where it all clicks together. 

 

* * *

 

**ERROR ! ERROR ! ERROR !**

  
this is not how the movies said it was supposed to go.  
  
kang daniel _loves_ movies, and he does enjoy the run-of-the-mill romantic comedy flick every once in a while. he knows that all of those movies follow a simple pattern: when the lead discovers his feelings for his love interest, the film immediately brings out cues that heighten the impact of his newfound emotions. the movie slows, the music crescendoing into an uplifting volume, and the lights in the vicinity melt into aesthetically pleasing bokehs that will clearly be the material of many social media cover photos for a good century or so.  
  
the main character's face pans in front of the camera, his eyes filled with love and adoration, a perfect image of his lover reflected in his dilated hues. the views alternate from at least three different perspectives—the lead, the prospect, and the soon-to-be-couple—only to be concluded when the big kiss finally comes in.  
  
this scene is unlike any movie he has ever watched. he supposes that he is the lead, but the only music that accompanies his sudden realization is the cacophony of cats' meows and the light jazz music that is supposedly feline preferred. nothing in his field of vision is slowing down, and he blames the bokehs that he sees on his drying contact lenses, and makes a note to use eye drops after this entire debacle is finished. there is _nothing_ romantic about his situation—standing slack-jawed in the middle of a cat cafe's vestibule, staring at his best friend as he hastily rids his jeans of any stray cat fur, possibly muttering about the disadvantages of distressed jeans in the context of hair and fur.  
  
but this is where it hits him: kang daniel, _standing slack-jawed in the middle of a cat cafe's vestibule_ , comes to the realization that he is in _love_ with his best friend yoon jisung, all while watching him rid his jeans of any cat hair after their little escapade with the playful felines.  
  
a part of him expects the cats to turn sentient and begin a musical number about finding love in the most obvious of places, but he is only met with more cacophonic meowing and the occasional purr from a little tabby that is probably high on silvervine or catnip. it's a pity, really, because it's the worst time for him to be alone with his own muddled thoughts, all filled with an incessant repetition that he's in love, has always been in love, and will probably be in love for a long while with _the_ yoon jisung.  
  
normally, he would've picked up his own lint roller to expertly rid his clothes of cat hair, but he just does the most un-daniel thing and stands, practically frozen, stock-still and oh-so-obviously staring at the object of his affections—and not so attractively either.

"—niel?"  daniel returns to reality at the sight of jisung waving the lint roller at him, brows furrowed in concern. did he space out for that long?  
  
"hm?" he hums in reply, shoving all thoughts and realizations back into the deepest, darkest corner of his brain. "are you done, hyung?"  
  
"yeah, like five minutes ago." jisung answers, his tones never lacking in sarcasm. he shoves the lint roller into daniel's hands, brows furrowed in inquisition as he looks up at the taller male. "what has gotten into you? did the haunted house freak you out that much?"  
  
"no, no—it's not that," daniel mentally scolds himself from stuttering, his fingers fumbling at the roller in his possession. "it's just—"  
  
— _i realized that i'm in love with you and needed a couple of minutes to process that thought and now i'm at a total, absolute loss?_  
  
the normal, totally not panicking kang daniel would've easily spewed out those words without any second thought, making for quite an unromantic confession. it wouldn't really be a problem—he _knows_ that they've reached this point of friendship that a confession could go ever-so-casually, not unlike talking about the weather, or narrating his favorite food.  
  
unromantic, but casual. fitting for their equation.  
  
_unfortunately,_ this daniel is not normal. this daniel is _totally_ panicking.  
  
"— _cat hair_!" the totally panicking daniel exclaims, making quick work of the practically non-existent cat fur sticking on his stylish clothes, the lint roller making quite a scritchy ruckus as he does so. "a whole, lot of cat hair. so much cat hair. like, a ton of cat hair."  
  
jisung's expression is a mix of exasperation and slight worry, his brow raised as he watched the other's incredulous actions. "okay."  
  
daniel chuckles, totally not nervously, his eyes reduced into little slits as he practically trips on his own feet in an effort to return the lint roller to its wall-mounted holster. it's a defense mechanism, _the giggles_ , and he hopes his faux jove is enough to fool his own bestfriend into thinking that nothing— _absolutely nothing_ —is up with him, especially thoughts related to being in love.  
  
"we should go!" he invites, almost too cheerfully, and he's quite sure that his hands are beginning to sweat before he even held jisung's own. he feels heat creep on his cheeks and up to the tips of his ears, but his smile never falters as he pulls them both out of the cat cafe and into the amusement park's open space. "it's almost dinner time, right? we should go get some food."

"are you sure you're okay, niel?" jisung pulls him back to a halt, his free hand drifting to his forehead in a possible attempt to check his temperature. "you're acting really we—"  
  
all-too-quickly, daniel backs away from his touch, and he reads a mix of surprise and something incomprehensible—hurt? worry? _discomfort_?—in the elder's expression. he feels a bit of guilt in his action, and he attempts to provide relief by giving jisung's hand a little squeeze. for reassurance, he thinks. he's just not sure if it's for jisung or for him.  
  
"i am, i am!" daniel answers enthusiastically, punctuating his little assertion with a small jog-in-place to emphasize his superior health. inwardly, he curses the high heavens for giving him a prospect almost-lover best friend who knows how to read each and every one of his expressions. "you worry too much, jisung-hyung! nothing—"  _absolutely nothing,_  he mentally adds, "—is wrong."  
  
jisung does not look convinced, but he drops the subject with a half-exhausted sigh. "one moment, you're crying over ghosts that are about to get you, and the next you're practically over the moon." he reaches forward, and this time, daniel does not back away quick enough, effectively letting the elder muss-up his hair as a show of affection. "what am i going to do with you, huh?"  
  
_you could love me back_ , volunteers the little voice in daniel's brain.  
  
"pay for dinner," he coos out loud, and he mentallly slaps his head a few seconds after.  
  
still, the little act makes the worry disappear from jisung's face, his furrowed brows relaxing, his lips curling up into a genuine grin. daniel's smile softens at the same time too, and in that small moment, he wonders how it took him this long to realize that his feelings went over the platonic range and hiked up the romantic mountain. jisung is beautiful, ethereal under the rays of the setting sun, and daniel thinks that he can be at peace with these feelings, be it requited or (hopefully not) not.  
  
" _wow._  i'm surprised you held up this long without asking me to split the bill," jisung squeezes his hand as he chuckles, and daniel has to tell his heart to quit doing backflips. "dinner's on me. no need to worry your cute little head over it, okay?"  
  
daniel tries his hardest to focus on any other word other than cute. "okay. i'll eat it well!"

 

* * *

 

**t + one hour**

they met each other in middle school.  
  
or at least _, daniel_ was in middle school. jisung was a good five years older than him, but he was only ahead by about two years in grade, mostly because his parents allowed him to explore more of his performing arts skill over boring academics. daniel was in his last year of middle school and jisung was in his second year of high school, and they met in spring during a free dance workshop held in their neighborhood.   
  
dance is something that daniel really likes doing. it's a thing that set him apart from all the other kids in the neighborhood, a thing that had him receive a couple tens of chocolates when there's a valentine's rush in their school. he loves dance to a point that he pursued it to university, and he knows he'll still be dancing well after the books are closed and the togas are worn, what with his part-time job in a laudable dance studio.   
  
jisung wasn't the best dancer in their group, but he wasn't the worst either. he was fluid enough, teachable and smart, and picks up the steps pretty easily, but dance is not what made daniel pursue a long-lasting friendship first.   
  
he remembers it clearly. daniel was running home from a delayed dance session, peach umbrella tight in his right hand. it was raining cats and dogs that spring afternoon, so the sight of a boy sitting beside the road without an umbrella or coat is a sight that is especially jarring. daniel had been a kind-hearted kid since the first day, so his first instinct was to approach, umbrella and all, offering a temporary shelter to the drenched boy who he then recognized as yoon jisung.   
  
"what are you doing?" he asks, peering over the other's form to check the situation.  
  
before him is a box of teeny tiny kittens, left in the rain by heartless owners who need to learn a thing or two about empathy.  
  
"i want to take them home," jisung blurts out, a pout in his tone, barely even sparing him a glance. daniel quirks a brow at suggestion, mostly at the childish sincerity, but he really can't say much as he knows he would do the same in that situation.   
  
"then do it." daniel encourages, and he moves closer so his umbrella could also cover the poor felines from the sudden downpour. "i'm sure you'll be a better owner than whoever left them here, hyung."   
  
"you think so?" it's there that jisung turns to his direction, brows furrowed in childish thought. "i mean, _anyone_ would be better, really, but i think my mom would kill me if i take home four new cats to take care of."   
  
"then half with me, hyung!" daniel immediately volunteers without a second thought. "i _love_ cats. mom won't let me buy a pet, though."   
  
"won't she be mad at you, then?" jisung asks, worry stark in his tone.   
  
"nah," daniel shakes his head, grinning that megawatt grin he is known for. "i'll charm my way out of being scolded."   
  
jisung squints at him in disbelief, only for a few seconds, before finally nodding.   
  
"okay. we'll take two each."   
  
daniel remembers giving his umbrella to jisung so he could carry the box, before ultimately deciding that it would be better to cradle the wet kittens in his shirt. he walks jisung to his house first and gets scolded the moment he comes home with two new pets in his jacket, but he stays true to his word and charms his way into keeping the pair. the rest is history, as people would say. daniel eventually enrolls in the same highschool that jisung went to, and even entered the same prestigious performing arts university in which the elder pursued acting.   
  
they're _inseparable_ , really. and maybe that's why daniel is afraid of going any further than their platonic little thing.   
  
jisung interrupts his walk down memory lane with a lettuce wrap, and daniel's mouth automatically opens wide before embarrassment could even register in his conscious. normally, it is him who cooks the meet during their little barbecue dinners, but jisung has decided that he'd be the one to do all the cooking, as he is not really keen in watching any of the meat burn due to daniel's distracted state.   
  
"eat up, niel," jisung half-commands, his hands busy preparing another wrap for the younger. "we're going home after this, okay? you don't look too good."   
  
daniel neither agrees nor disagrees to the assumption. he knows he's been uncharacteristically quiet the entire dinner, but that's mostly because of the ongoing debate in his head regarding possible confession.  
  
instead, he focuses on chewing, his mouth already empty the moment jisung puts forth another wrap for him to consume.   
  
it's not _hard_ to fall in love with jisung; he's pretty, kind, funny, caring. he knows this because he's seen it happen—not just with _him,_ but with other people. he's actually more confused how he hasn't realized it sooner, because maybe then he'd be less hesitant with moving forward, as he wouldn't have been this _greedy_ , nor this attached. jisung is more than the butterflies in his stomach, the heat he feels in his cheeks, the sweat that forms on his brow and drips to the bridge of his nose.   
  
jisung is his best friend. his confidante, his _better half_ by almost every definition. at this moment, all he really wants is to kiss the elder, then and there, but he knows that he can't, that he shouldn't; not until he's sure that whatever they have built for so many years will not be lost in the heat of the moment.   
  
the stars are bright against the sky's dark curtain the moment they come out of the restaurant, smelling like smoke and good cuts of pork.   
  
"i'll walk you home," daniel stutters out with a nervous grin, his hand already outstretched as if he's expecting an affirmative answer. but jisung suddenly bursts into a fit of amused laughter, and daniel blinks at his hyung's crumpled heap of a person as he contemplates on which part of his offer came out as amusing.  
  
wait.  
  
oh.  
  
"we literally live in the same house, kang daniel." jisung finally manages between a couple more chuckles, but he takes daniel's hand without any hesitation nonetheless.  
  
daniel thinks his eyes rivaled the constellations above with their jovial glimmer.   
  
"you have no choice but to walk me home."

 

* * *

  
  
**t + three hours**

  
they arrive in their shared house after an hour of buses, trains, and walking. daniel still has a good grip on jisung's hand, and has not made a move to let go despite the fact that their door is literally a step before them both.   
  
"so..." jisung begins, a bit awkward with his tone.  
  
" _so_..." daniel echoes, his hand still tight on the other's own.   
  
"you can let go now," the elder motions, but does not pull away. daniel thinks it's sweet how he probably considered his needs with that decision, but he decides it is best to leave that thought for much, much later.   
  
"oh," daniel looks sheepish as he slowly detaches himself from their shared link, immediately shoving his lonely hand into his jean pocket afterwards. "sorry."  
  
jisung merely smiles as he fetches his keys and unlocks the door to their home.   
  
nothing unusual happens after, until daniel's feet decide that it would be a good idea to follow jisung around like a puppy seeking his owner's permission. it's weird, really, but daniel's body moved before he could even think about it, and now he's dragging his feet along the wood panel floor, stopping only when jisung almost bumps into his form.   
  
"oh, sorry...i—"  
  
" _sit down_."   
  
jisung's tone is stern despite the eyesmiles decorating his visage, and it's enough to send shivers down daniel's spine. whatever apologies he longed to say get stuck in his throat, and he simply scampers unto the living room to sit himself on the couch like the good boy his elder probably wished him to be.   
  
"i'm going to change into something more comfortable," jisung begins, his smile ever pleasant despite the dark aura daniel sees looming around his form. "and then we're going to go sort—" his hand motions up and down daniel's entirety. "— _this_ out."  
  
daniel feels like he has no choice but to agree and nod, so he does as he is told.   
  
ten minutes pass and jisung emerges from his bedroom wearing a hoodie and lounge shorts, and daniel has to swallow his heart and nerves back down his throat at just how cute the other looks. he hasn't moved from the same spot on the couch in the same ten minutes—a thing that jisung meets with a quirked brow—but daniel sees him merely purse his lips as he walks towards the coffee table.   
  
jisung takes  the space on the floor right across daniel, his expression unreadable to the younger. daniel automatically slides off of the couch and unto the ground.  
  
"so," comes the beginning of jisung's tirade. daniel swallows his nerves for good measure. "what's up?"  
  
it's a short question, harmless— _general_ —but it's enough to send sweat beads breaking across his brow.   
  
"what's up with _what_?" daniel tries to play innocent, but he knows that the smile he gave is a tad shakier than his natural grin. still, he prays to the gods that the elder won't notice.   
  
" _that_ ," jisung replies, and daniel knows he's being too obvious. "you've been acting really _weird_ the entire day—" a pause. "—well, _most_ of the day. you were okay in the morning. did something happen?"   
  
daniel simply stares at his hyung, unsure of what to say as a reply. he hears worry and concern in the other's tone, and it does nothing to quell the growing flames in his heart that came with his emotional discovery. should he just tell him the truth, or attempt to charm his way out of this sticky situation?   
  
"i'm really _worried_ , you know?" jisung continues, hearing nothing but silence from the other. daniel sees his words reflected in his hues. "you're not usually like this, unless, something is really bothering you. did something happen at school? work? don't tell me..."  
  
a pause. "something wrong with _me_?"  
  
" _yes_ ," daniel answers abruptly, absent-mindedly, but he is quick to notice his blunder. "i mean— _no_...not you...it's just...i—"  
  
jisung leans on the coffee table, and daniel flinches away from the sudden proximity. for a second, he sees offense flash in the other's hues, but jisung is quick to replace it with more concern, more worry.  
  
"tell me." jisung practically pleads, and daniel almost breaks with every single emotion that dripped from his voice. "if it's about me, then i'd rather know now so i could fix it and—"  
  
" _i'm in love with you_."  
  
he says it quickly, unable to bear with the hurt that he begins to hear from the other. jisung pauses in his litany and blinks, his brow slowly furrowing at the sudden confession.  
  
"...what?"  
  
"i'm in love with you, hyung." he repeats, with all the sincerity he can muster.  
  
daniel expects shock, embarrassment, even confusion at his all-too-abrupt admission. but instead, he sees jisung's face breaking into a million indecipherable expressions, before finally settling on something closer to...is that anger? annoyance? _exasperation_?   
  
"why didn't you tell me?!" jisung scolds, none too lightly either, his eyes wide with what seems like irritation. "i really—i _thought_ —you—"  
  
daniel has seen many confessions come and go in all the movies and dramas he had watched, but he knows for sure that this is far from how he imagined his own moment to go.  
  
so, he blinks, partly in disbelief, mostly in beffudlement.  
  
"hyung—" he tries, but jisung shushes him with a raised finger.   
  
"no. i'm speaking. _shush_." the elder reprimands, and daniel feels an urge to straighten in his seat. "you're telling me that you're in love with me?"   
  
daniel nods, mouth agape at the interrogation. jisung takes in a deep inhale.   
  
"kang daniel," jisung motions, pinching the bridge of his nose as he speaks. "you don't set people you're in love with on a date with someone else. chances are, they get the wrong idea, and think that their affections are _unrequited._ "   
  
silence envelopes the space between them, and daniel uses it to slice the sentences the other had said.   
  
"... _affections_?" he chooses to focus on these words and tilts his head to the side in curious inquisition. "unrequited?"  
  
jisung groans, obviously not in the mood for further explanation. instead, the elder raises both hands to the sky in supplication, his next words coming out as both a whine and a sermon.   
  
"dear lord in heaven, why must i be _in love_ with an idiot?"   
  
_why must i be in love with an idiot?_  
  
_in_ love _with an idiot?_  
  
_in **love.**_  
  
it takes a good ten seconds for the implication to finally register in his conscious. daniel grins, widely, giddily, and he hears affection in the sigh jisung lets out. within moments, he finds himself crossing the distance between them, effectively knocking jisung over to the floor as he traps him in the tightest, warmest hug he could manage.   
  
he gets slapped in the thigh for his overeager action, but daniel is too happy to even care about the repercussions.   
  
"i can kiss you now, right?" daniel asks the moment he removes his face from jisung's shoulder, his smile ever-bright and ever-wide. "i've been wanting to the entire day, hyung."   
  
" _jeesh_." jisung rolls his eyes at his enthusiasm, tapping his cheek twice for good measure. " _of course._ you don't really have to ask permiss—"   
  
excitable as he is, daniel catches the affirmation and locks their lips together before jisung could even finish his words. his kiss is eager, a bit clumsy and rough, but all of it is to make up for all the minutes, hours, days in which he wanted to claim those red-tinted chops for his own. he smiles when jisung returns every liplock with enthusiasm, lean fingers threading against his locks and drawing patterns against his scalp as he is pulled ever closer.   
  
it's nothing like the movies, to be honest. but daniel could attest that this is a thousand, million, _trillion_ times better.   
  
"i guess i'd have to thank you for giving me the best date of my life, huh?" jisung teases once they break for air, and daniel knocks their foreheads together. "though it did start from your being a _stalker_..."   
  
"let's not talk about that, hyung," daniel pouts and whines, but not without stealing a peck from the elder. "it ended well, right? you can just kiss me for compensation."   
  
jisung half-scoffs with a gentle smirk, patting his side before leaning in for a quick osculation. " _absolutely._ " 

 

* * *

**  
  
epilogue**

  
seongwoo's beeping phone is the only light that illuminates the dark room, and the handsome man would've ignored its incessant ruckus if not for the slumbering male cuddled against his chest. groaning, seongwoo picks his phone up from the bedside table, careful not to disturb _the_ hwang minhyun as he checks the stream of messages he received.

> **from:** daengdaeng

unsurprising. would the series of texts bring good news, or would he have to go on a late night drive to comfort a lonesome pup? he hopes not. the little snore he hears from minhyun makes him fervently pray to the lord almighty that all this message brings is a story of success.

 _—i did it,_ the message reads, followed by a stream of sugary sweet photos from a love-filled kang daniel and yoon jisung. seongwoo flits and swipes at every photo with an approving nod, feeling especially endeared at one that shows his newest favorite couple in a tight snuggle, jisung's slighter form practically drowning under daniel's puppy-like hold.  
  
"you're not the only one, daniel-ah."  
  
seongwoo switches to his camera app and proceeds to take a photo, making sure to include the still-asleep minhyun in the frame that he's about to send. he takes two, for good measure, but the measure probably isn't too good as his flash goes off at the very last second, and he calls on every available deity that minhyun would not notice his little blunder.  
  
_silence_. seongwoo counts to three before he moves to attach the photo to his messaging app, his thumb ever-ready to press _send._  
  
"send that and i will murder you, ong seongwoo," minhyun motions in his groggiest voice, and seongwoo notes that he hasn't even bothered to open his eyes at the reprimand. it doesn't make his warning any less sinister, though.  
  
still—"yes sir," he cheerfully mutters, planting a kiss on the cranky other's forehead as he taps 'send.'

**Author's Note:**

> nielsung rise!


End file.
